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Punjab to woo domestic, global Agri players
The state government is set to leverage the two-day Progressive Punjab Investors Summit to reach out to some of the world’s leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG)
The state government is set to leverage the two-day Progressive Punjab Investors Summit to reach out to some of the world’s leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies for boosting the agriculture sector, an official statement said on Sunday.
The summit comes at a time when the agriculture sector is in the spotlight over air pollution caused by stubble burning and the state government is trying to promote mechanisation to get rid of the paddy straw.
Top agri players like ITC, Godrej Tyson, Hariyalee Seeds, Spain’s Congelados De Navarra and IFFCO have confirmed their participation in the summit, which will highlight the potential opportunities of growth in this sector as well as the strengths of the Punjab ecosystem.
Spain’s Congelados De Navarra and IFFCO have already entered a joint venture to set up first food processing facility outside Europe. With a committed investment of ₹523 crore, the venture is set to support 10,000 farmers and procure 1,50,000 tonnes food grain from the farmers every year, the official statement said.
Steering this positivity in the sector is Punjab’s Industrial and Business Development 2017 Policy, which identifies Agri and Food Processing as thrust sectors and offers liberal incentives. The state offers a strong infra ecosystem to facilitate the growth of the Food Processing plants through the 3 Mega Food Parks at Fazilka, Ludhiana (Ladhowal) and Phagwara, the statement said.
Punjab is also in the process of setting up primary processing centres at Abohar, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Talwandi Sabo to support the companies investing in the food parks.
Many leading companies have started harnessing the opportunity offered by the state to invest in the sector. Varun Beverages (Pepsi) got their first fully backward integrated facility, to produce PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio items, became fully operational earlier this year, within 10 months of application to Invest Punjab. Sukhjit Mega Food Park (Phagwara) is investing ₹152 crore for their maize processing facility, to help boost the state government’s crop diversification efforts.
The Allana Group, India’s largest exporter of processed food products and agro commodities, is coming up with a Meat processing plant with Rs. 125 crore in committed investment, while Verka Mega Dairy plant is being built with a total investment of ₹358 crore. Ludhiana Beverages (Coca Cola) is planning a further expansion of ₹200-300 crore in Hoshiarpur, and Lulu Group of UAE has acquired an existing Meat Processing plant in Dera Bassi.
The fact that it is their first meat plant outside UAE speaks of the growing confidence of domestic and global players in Punjab’s strong and favourable business eco-system.
